Sweet Insanity
by Nikki Slayer
Summary: Post independent ending, Nik and her partner Benny start to butt heads, bringing up some painful past memories, and throwing the  group  into a new adventure.
1. Collection

**_Collection_**

"Hey hey Babydoll what's the haps?" Nik groaned inwardly, looking over New Vegas through the penthouse windows. As much as she had appreciated Benny's assistance in the past few months, his constant checking up on her was becoming irritating. How was she supposed to convince the people of New Vegas that SHE was running the Lucky 38 when Benny was constantly hovering? How was she supposed to be the ruler of The Strip when he was always checking on her? She wasn't a child anymore…

"Hello Benny." She replied simply. "What brings you here?" Nik hated when she asked questions she didn't want answers to.

"Just you Pussycat, I've come to collect." She could practically hear him smirking.

"Collect?" Nik asked, realizing it was another question she didn't want an answer to, as she starred out the windows over the bustling city bellow her.

"Baby, don't play dumb, you know exactly what I want." He told her, his voice dripping with the Benny brand of smugness. Nik turned to face the man in the checkered suit, fighting to control her anger at what he had said.

"Benny, if anyone's collecting anything, it's me. I'm the one who did most of the work the past few months. And what were you doing? Oh yea, you were managing the Tops and banging a prostitute." Nik smirked at him, self-satisfied.

"Baby, baby, you don't give me enough credit," Benny said, holding up his hands in defense. "I was the one who came up with the plan to take over Vegas in the first place-"

"No, Benny, you don't give me enough credit. I killed Ceaser and Lanius. I took Mr. House out of the picture. I risked my ass at the second battle of hoover dam while you were here in your cushy lap of luxury." Nik said heatedly.

"Baby look around you," Benny told her, gesturing to the massive expanse of the penthouse they were standing in. "and then tell me who's living in the lap of luxury." Benny lit a cigarette for himself, enjoying the sensation of smoke filling his lungs.

Nik glared at him, how could he be accusing her of living an overly cushy lifestyle when he himself was in one of the nicest rooms in the Tops? Benny stood there, arms crossed, cigarette in his mouth, and shook his head. He looked down, removed the cigarette and smiled.

"Babydoll, you seem to be forgetting something," Nik felt her stomach turn. Surely he wouldn't sink as low as to remind her… "You owe me a favor," There was his signature smirk. "After all… I am the reason you're still here." Nik turned away from him, so he couldn't see her face. She felt like she was going to throw up. How dare he mention that. Even though it was years ago, she still bared the scars. She ran her fingers over the scars on her ribs. Nik shook her head, as if she could make the ghosts disappear.

"I owe you nothing Benny. Not anymore." Nik told him, part frustrated part upset, both due to the face that he had brought up her rough past.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Babydoll, but you DO still owe me. We have a contract, remember, Doll?" Nik rubbed her temples and sighed in frustration.

"I remember," Nik turned back to face him. "What do you want? Money?" Benny laughed.

"No doll, nothing like that, if I did I would have it by now cause you just wanna get rid of me. No, I want you," Nik raised her eyebrows, ever skeptical. Benny crossed the room to stand next to her. "Baby, ever since you got here, you've been all work and no play. I'm just saying that I'll show you the tops, Pussycat. One night is all it takes," he kissed her neck. "Whadaya say?" Nik pulled away from him.

"I think you should leave, Benny." Nik turned away from him.

"Another night then. You know where to find me, Baby." Benny winked to her then walked up the stairs to the elevator with a swagger that only the leader of the Chairmen could muster. It wasn't until the elevator doors closed behind him that she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Nik slumped into one of the dirty chairs she had placed by the window and let the memories of her past find their way back into her head. Memories of her parents, The Strip, of a younger Benny, a younger her, of the Fiends, the Legion…

Nik snapped awake, covered in a cold sweat.

"You ok?" Nik jumped again at the sound of Boones voice. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," Boone told her as he cleaned his rifle, not looking at her. "You've been up here for hours, everyone was starting to worry," Nik sat there quietly, reflecting on the dream (or was it a memory?), head in her hands as if it had given her a headache. "You talk in your sleep," Boone told her "Just like Carla did after she had had a long day." The sniper mused. Nik looked at him curiously. This wasn't his first time mentioning her, but it was easily the most personal thing he had shared about his late wife.

"Do you miss her?" Nik asked quietly.

"All the time." Boone answered sadly. Nik wanted so desperately to comfort the man sitting next to her, the man who had put himself in danger more times than she could count to save her ass, the man who had to endure a pain everyday with the knowledge that he was the one who had put a bullet in his wife's head. The two of them sat in the peaceful silence of the Lucky 38 penthouse for a few moments, with only the buzzing of the giant monitor in the next room to provide a kind of white noise. Then that silence was suddenly interrupted by the sound of glass breaking followed by Arcade and Cass yelling at each other. The terrified researcher rushed out of the elevator and down the stairs, a drunken Cass stumbling along after him, and a barking Rex after her.

"Cass, put down the bottle!" Arcade yelled the angry, drunken woman. He ducked as Cass threw the empty whiskey bottle at where his head would've been; it shattered against the wall behind him. The cybernetic dog was jumping, barking, and just adding to the general commotion of the room.

"Where the hell did you hide the rest of my whiskey!" she screamed at the shaken researcher, her eyes lighting up like fire. Boone hastily ran to restrain the Whiskey Rose, abandoning his prized rifle on a grimy chair, while Nik hurried over to Arcade to ask what exactly happened. "He took all my whiskey!" Cass shouted hysterically, practically crying from a mixture of her immense drunkenness and rage.

"She drank it all! She thinks I hid it from her because I mentioned that drinking too much is going to kill her, and now she wants to kill me…!" Arcade told Nik, eyes wide with fear of the drunk. She looked back at the struggling woman in Boones arms and placed a hand of her shoulder as Rex licked Cass's hand.

"Cass," Nik said gently. Cass looked up at her from the panting dog at their feet. "You should get some rest. We'll get you more whiskey tomorrow. I promise." Cass nodded slowly, too intoxicated and tired to argue, and Nik and Boone hauled her to bed.


	2. Old New Vegas

Nik remembered the first time she had set eyes on Vegas. She had been fourteen, traveling there with her parents for reasons unknown to her, yet she didn't mind getting to see a different world than the California brahmin ranch she had grown up on. They had stayed in the Tops while they were there. Nik's parents often were busy, business stuff, as they had told her when she asked where they were going, what they were doing. That was when she met Benny for the first time. She was wandering around the hotel/casino and bumped into him, seeing as they were the only two kids there, they spent some time together and became almost friends. They would run down the hotel hallways, trying to pick the locks to the rooms. They would try to sneak into the Aces Theater to watch more 'mature' shows. But they mostly just caused general mischief for the few days they spent together.

Eventually, the time came for Nik's parents to leave the strip with her in tow. Nik and Benny quietly said their goodbyes and the family of three made their way back to California. Sadly, they didn't make it out of Vegas. Nik heard the agony of her parent's screams and the psychotic laughter of the Fiends as they killed her parents, and she ran to a nearby vacant building to hide from them. She watched, horrified, as their lifeless bodies fell to the ground in a pool of blood, their own blood. She was terrified, watching the Fiends loot her parent's bodies for anything of value and leave, and realized that she was utterly and completely alone. Realizing this, she slumped against the wall, and cried.

The next morning, Nik woke to the sound of gunshots in the distance, reminding her of where she was, what had happened. Moving quickly, she grabbed her pack and started to make her way back to California.

Nik shaded her eyes with her hand as she looked up towards the sun, trying to determine the time. Trying and failing, Nik sighed and put one dusty foot in front of the other, praying that she was going in the right direction. With every step she took, the dusty, dry dirt was kicked up from her feet and settled in her throat. Trekking onwards, Nik could feel the merciless Mojave sun baking her skin, burning her throat, and destroying the chance of her making it to California. Nik thought she was going to collapse, dropping her pack to the ground and watching the dust settle around it. She turned on her heel, looking in every direction, and could find nothing but the vast expanse of desert surrounding her. Nik collapsed into the dust and pulled the last of her water out of the pack. Pushing the bottle to her lips with shaking hands, she tilted the bottle up, and felt instant relief as the life providing liquid rushed down her parched throat. After crushing the bottle, she tossed it aside and looked around, trying to decide what to do. After minutes of deliberating, she pushed herself up and started off in the direction she hoped was California.

After crossing through what can only be described as a minuscule canyon, Nik found herself back in California, and not even a mile from the nearest town, according to a sign she had passed. But the town was none too welcome, Nik observed as she watched a plume of smoke drift up from the burnt remains of the town. Cautiously, Nik attempted to pick her way through the remains, hoping not to be seen by whoever had forsaken this town, however, Lady Luck was not siding with the unfortunate girl. As Nik passed the still smoking heap of ash and embers, she heard shouts, footsteps running towards her. Nik knew she was caught, and sprinted as fast as she could to escape whoever was chasing her. She heard a spear rush past her ear, almost taking part of her with it. Nik knew one of them would have to stop sooner or later, preferably her pursuer. She snuck a quick glance behind her and managed to trip over a log that hadn't made it to the smoking heap, and fell to the ground, scraping both her knees and her elbows. Nik cursed her luck, knowing there was no escaping now.

Nik did not particularly enjoy slave collars. She had always deemed them as cruel, and an unnecessary use of force. She hated them even more when she was forced to wear one. Nik shuffled forward in line with the other new slaves to have their collars fitted, always in front of a machete point. The legionary roughly pulled her forward and closed the slave collar around her neck, tightening it so that if it was any smaller, she would suffocate. As she turned to head to find out where she was going next, she felt the newly acquired piece of metal digging into her flesh. Apparently taking too long, she was shoved forward into her new life as a legion slave.


End file.
